Mortal Ponies
by TractionEra
Summary: A rewrite of Mortal Engines with Ponies based on what I remember of Mortal Engines. Haven't read it in two years so it'll deviate wildly.
1. Chapter 1

Mortal Ponies

Chapter 1

The light was fading as night approached on this dreary evening. The once great Traction City of Manehattan was giving chase to a small mining barge that could barely be considered a town across the western Salt flats.

In her heyday Manehattan would have let such a meager prize alone in favor of much larger prey from as far north as the Ice Plains and as far south as the Quiet Sea. Unfortunately, prey was growing scarce and Manehattan was beginning to become an attractive target for larger cities. Ten years ago the decision had been made to hide in the low mountains of the Far West. Here Manehattan survived an little towns and static settlements, all the while hiding from cities too large to chase Manehattan into the narrow valleys of the Far West. Manehattan had since begun moving east into the Equestrian Hunting Grounds once more. The mining barge, small as it was, seemed a sign from the gods that the Lord Mare had made the right decision in moving the city east.

The city had barely started to cross the deserts of the Mild West when the lookout Pegasi spotted the mining barge on the salt flats a few miles to the north. The Lord Mare (who didn't believe in gods or signs from them) acknowledge that the turn of events was showing promise for Manehattan's future and gave the order to chase the town.

The mining town saw Manehattan and began running. This attempt at escape was futile; before the ton had even begun to run Manehattan's massive caterpillar tracks had begun moving faster and faster. The giant city was in hot pursuit, the mountain of metal that rose seven tiers like a square wedding cake, the lowest levels were wreathed in smoke from the cities engines, the white villas of the rich ponies gleaming brightly on the higher decks, and above all that was the circular star atop Celestia's Cathedral shining gold in the twilight, rose 2,000 feet above the barren earth.

Odoacer was busy cleaning the exhibits in the Manehattan Museum's Natural History section when she felt the telltale tremor through the floor. She looked up to see the model whales and dolphins swinging softly from side to side, the cables that secured them to the ceiling creaking softly as they did.

This didn't surprise or scare her. She'd lived in Manehattan all fifteen years of her life and knew the feeling well. She could tell the city was beginning to pick up speed and changing course. Excitement began boiling up inside her, the thrill of the hunt that was hared by all the ponies in Manehattan. There's prey in sight! Dropping her duster, she put her ear against the wall and listened to the vibrations emanating from the engines deep in the Gut. Yes, there it is – the throb of the auxiliary motors cutting in, boom, boom, boom, like a big drum beating inside her bones.

The door at the far end of the gallery burst open and Chudsleigh Ponyroy stormed in, his toupee nearly falling off and his round face red with indignation. "What in the name of Quirke . . . ?" he blustered, gawking at the gyrating whales, and the stuffed birds jigging and twitching in their cases like they were shaking off their long captivity and readying themselves to take flight again. "Apprentice Noteworthy! What's going on here?"

"It's a chase, sir," said Odoacer, wondering how the Deputy Head of the Guild of Historians had managed to live aboard Manehattan for so long and still not recognize its heartbeat. "It must be something good," she explained. "They've brought all the auxiliaries online. Haven't done that for ages. Perhaps Manehattan's luck has changed!"

Ponyroy neighed, wincing as the glass in the display cases started to whine and shiver in sympathy with the beat of the engines. Above his head the biggest of the models – something called a blue whale that had become extinct over a millennium ago – was jerking back and forth on its hawsers like a plank swing. "That may be, Noteworthy," he said. "I just wish the Guild of Engineers would fit some decent shock absorbers in this building. Some of these specimens are very delicate. This won't do. This won't do at all." He tugged a stained handkerchief out of the folds of the long black robes he wore over his sand colored coat and dabbed his face with it.

"Please, sir," pleaded Odoacer, "could I run down to the observation platforms and watch the chase, just for half an hour? It's been years since the last good one."

Ponyroy looked shocked. "Certainly not, Apprentice! Look at all the dust this chase has shaken down! The exhibits will have to be cleaned and checked for damage."

"That's not fair!" cried Odoacer. "I've dusted this whole gallery!"

She realized at once that she'd made a mistake. Old Chudsleigh Ponyroy wasn't bad as Guildsponies went, but he didn't like being talked back to by a mere Third Class Apprentice. He pulled himself up to his full height, which wasn't much taller than Odoacer. "Apprentice Notesworthy, you will dust this entire gallery over again and don't even think about leaving until you've done so. You will dust until you get your cutie mark in dusting." Ponyroy's face had turned a bright red and he turned to leave. He walked out of the gallery, presumably back to his office, leaving Odoacer to dust the whole of the gallery. She bit her tongue to keep from lashing out at him for commenting on her blank flank and grudgingly returned to dusting the gallery.

Not ten minutes after Chudsleigh delivered his ultimatum, Odoacer decided she would sneak out. What could it hurt if she snuck out for a mere ten minutes. The nearest observation platform was only a short trot from the museum, she was sure she could return before Ponyroy noticed she'd left.

She walked down the corridor, stepping lightly on the hard tiles, hesitating by Ponyroy's office. The only noise from within was the snoring of old Ponyroy. Confident he wouldn't awake for some time, Odoacer quickly made her way out of the dusty old museum. Once outside she stopped a moment to take in the wind rushing across the deck plate, blowing her mane it was a slight annoyance because it meant she couldn't fly to the platform and had to take the lift.

She made good time to the nearest lift. It went up to the tier above where the nearest observation platform. While she waited for it to return to the deck, she turned to watch the goggle screens, which were showing images of the small mining town. It hardly passed as a town, only two decks high it's decks seemed occupied by mining equipment. Faint blobs were floating away from the town, airships, no doubt recognizing the futility of the chase. It was obvious that Manehattan would win, it was only matter of time, and that made Odoacer squirm. She wanted to see the final moments with her own eyes, not on a goggle screen.

A bell twanged, signaling that the lift was there. She filed into the crampt space along with a sea of ponies, ranging from Earth Ponies to Unicorns, all headed to different parts of the city. The lift began to ascend, all too slowly for Odoacer. Neighboring ponies gave her disapproving looks as she unconsciously tried to spread her wings. The lift stopped and ponies began to file out, Odoacer pushed passed all of them, ignoring their complaints.

She ran at full gallop to the observation platform and smiled brightly when she saw that the chase was not yet over. More of the airships had taken flight and the air around the town was filled with smudges of very color and size, all becoming increasingly difficult to see in the waning twilight. The massive jaws of Manehattan had opened and a soft red glow was visible if you looked straight down. A cheer erupted among the crowd as a cloud a dark smoke suddenly erupted from the town's smoke stacks and it began to lose speed rapidly.

Manehattan was upon the town almost immediately. The crowd erupted once more in gleeful cheering as the town disappeared into the dismantling yard of the Gut far below. Odoacer turned to the crowd of fellow onlookers, only to be greeted by an overexcited mare who kissed her. "Oh, sorry! Wait... I know you," the excitement didn't disappear from Clytie's face as she struggle to remember Odoacer, who was glad she was too distracted to notice how red her face had become.

"Get away from her Clytie!" Called an all too familiar voice in the crowd. "Shouldn't hang around with Third Class Apprentices. They're beneath us, especially a blank-flank Pegasus like Notesworthy." Mitchel couldn't help but point out.

Odoacer was half ready to buck the First Class Apprentice off the deck when Clytie stepped in. "Stop acting all high and mighty just because your parents have enough money to pay for you to be a First Class Apprentice and you have a cutie-mark. She'll get one soon enough and it'll be a lot better than yours." Odoacer felt her face become hot as Clytie Potts, the most beautiful pony in the Guild of Historians stuck up for her, and was very glad the dwindling sunlight hid her face's color.

"Really now? Well maybe she'll get one that lets her avoid falling deck plates. Her parents could've used that." She'd had it, Odaocer turned and bucked him right in the face, knocking him back and bloodying his face.

"I usually don't hit mares, or filly's in your case, but I'll make an exception..." He was interrupted as a far more commanding voice broke out, causing most of the apprentices of the Guild of Historians, regardless of class scatter, "Mrs. Notesworthy! It is one thing to defy me for a silly chase, but it is another entirely to assault a fellow apprentice, especially one that is of a higher class." Chudsleigh Ponyroy left Odoacer no opportunity to defend herself. "You will report to the gut immediately for your punishment." Odoacer looked to Clytie, hoping for some support after her earlier help, but only to find that the Unicorn had made herself scarce. She bowed her head in indignation and accepted the punishment.


	2. Chapter 2

Mortal Ponies

Chapter 2

Odoacer kept her head low, ignoring the other passengers on the lift down. She'd already been on the lift for ten minutes, and would remain on it for at least another ten. The only express lift to the Gut was on the top tier, and was only useable by the Guild of Engineers, so she was stuck on the slow down lift. She wasn't alone in her descent, there were a few other ponies, mares and bucks alike, who would be accompanying her to the bottom. They were regular worker ponies who worked in the Gut, only Odoacer was headed down for punishment. The lift stopped and ponies milled into and out of the small space, as they did at every stop.

Even though she hadn't counted the decks as they descended, Odoacer knew they were nearing the Gut. The smell of burning fuel and scraping noises of Manehattan's massive engines was clear and only grew louder the further down they went. The car held only a handful of Grease-ponies and Engineers who were headed to work in the Gut. The two Engineers were easy to pick from the others, they wore strange white rubber lab coats and had no mane. Something Odoacer would never understand was why Engineers weren't allowed to have manes. Sure, she kept hers short, not letting the dark coppery hair grow past her neck, but she couldn't imagine going without it.

The acrid smell of smoke became extremely powerful as the lift car emerged into the Gut proper. Odoacer's eyes burned and watered slightly as the smoke enveloped them. Even from the continually lowering vantage point, only a small portion of the Gut was visible. What was visible, was the dismantling yards. A vast open pit that was surrounded on three sides by high walls, covered in catwalks, and on one side by Manehattan's massive jaws. The vast majority of the space was filled with the small town that had just been eaten. Very little of it remained intact. They work fast.

The lift arrived at it's final stop before returning to the upper tiers. The gate to the lift opened and the few occupants of the lift entered the Gut, and the lift was quickly filled with worker ponies who'd finished for the day. No doubt headed to tier five to celebrate in the clubs, like everypony else in the city. Odoacer headed for the small shack that was the Guild of Historians' outpost in the Gut. There was a noticeable difference between the inside of the shack and the outside. The door was kept shut, so there was very little smoke. Odoacer trudged to the office of the Guildspony who would lead her punishment.

Hopefully it was one of the more lenient Guildsponies. Knowing her luck was wavering, she entered the office, only to be greeted by barking and a wolf! Odoacer let out a scream as the animal jumped onto her. "Dog, get off of her! I'm so sorry!" A sweet, almost musical voice said as the Wolf backed away from Odoacer, wagging it's tail happily.

"I'm Katherine, Katherine Valentine." The exotic mare with the silvery gray coat and dark brown offered to help her up.

"Thanks, I'm fine." Odoacer puled herself to her feet. She froze when she remembered who the young mare was, it was Katherine (as she stated two seconds ago) the daughter of Thaddeus Valentine, the great Historian. Odoacer scanned the room, and smiled when she saw him, the black stallion sat behind a large desk, looking very cheerful considering that he was working in the Gut this evening. "Could you please shut the door, you'll let all the cool air out." Odoacer complied with the request before approaching the desk.

"So you're the pony that gets to assist me tonight?" She nodded, "Splendid. Now lets get going, I'm sure you'll be wanting to join the festivities on tier five." With that he led Odoacer to the back door of the office and out into the Gut. Katherine joined them soon after along with her Wolf. "We shouldn't have too much work, the town only had a small museum so I doubt there will be too much to look through." The trio walked down a series of stairs that led to where some bins sat full of items taken from the town as it was dismantled. Odoacer set to work searching the rubble for salvageable scraps of Old-Tech. She could just imagine a display case with a plaque holding her name, _'Discovered By Odoacer Noteworthy' _it would read. She frowned when all she was able to find the pile remotely worth taking was an ancient disk, cracked through the middle. She let out a tired sigh and returned to Thaddeus, who'd just finished speaking some of the worker ponies. "No luck?" He sounded sympathetic enough, but Odoacer couldn't help but be annoyed with herself for not finding anything.

"Don't fret, anything really worth taking was taken up by the residents before the fine gentleponies down here can touch them. Follow me, I think I might be able to find a piece or two worth keeping." Without any further question he made his way to a stairwell that led down. Katherine gave a sympathetic look.

"It's alright. Most of the artifacts recovered from the town were found already." It helped, but Odoacer still felt like she was letting the great Historian down. She had to gallop to catch up to Thaddeus, but when she did she was shocked by what she was seeing. He was chatting with some scavengers who'd been aboard the town when Manehattan ate it. They looked like old friends, and Odoacer left him to it.

She knew he'd acquire any artifacts without her help, so she turned her gaze to the cue of ponies who were on there way to becoming citizens of Manehattan. One in particular caught her eye, an earth mare with a tan coat and a mane the color of rusted iron. What really caught her eye was the shawl she wore over her face. She was dressed in a duster held together with patches, much like any scavenger you'd see in the Equestrian Hunting Grounds, but the fact that she hid her face was odd.

Her thoughts were stopped when she saw he mare reach into her coat and produce a knife, gripping it with her mouth, and began charging Thaddeus.

"Thaddeus! Watch out!" He dodged with agility Odoacer hadn't thought he had, and the knife that was meant for him ended up lodged into the skull of a scavenger he'd been conversing. A chill ran up Odoacer's spine as the would-be-assassin shot her an evil glare without turning her head to face her. The mare didn't attempt retrieving the knife and instead ran at full gallop down a catwalk. Odoacer found herself chasing the pony without much thought. Thaddeus, despite his amazing agility, wasn't as fast as Odoacer with her wings.

She had to run after almost getting caught by an updraft, but found herself almost riding the hoofs of the earth pony. They ran past a group of prison worker ponies and an Engineer.

"Assassin! Get help!" Odoacer called to the mane-less Engineer, not waiting for any sort of reply or acknowledgment. She had slowed to speak, and the earth pony had built up a good lead. Not wanting to let the mare get away, Odoacer galloped as fast as she could. She saw a scrambling of ponies with crossbows running along a catwalk a few meters above. They held the weapons in their mouths and fired a volley of bolts at the mare, missing by millimeters. One caught the shawl and it was firmly pinned to a steel beam.

Odoacer continued after the pony and quickly found herself in a wide open area, with the mare standing with her back to Odoacer, looking down a gaping expanse at least two meters wide.

"Why'd you try to kill Valentine? What quarrel do you have with him?" Odoacer demanded, knowing the mare was cornered, with security not far behind. The mare turned to face Odoacer, revealing why she'd worn the shawl. A scar ran from left to right across her face and an empty space where her right eye was supposed to be. She gave the same one-eyed glare she'd given before with her remaining eye.

"Why don't you ask him yourself? Ask him about what he did to me. Ask him what he did to Hester Shaw!" In the blink of an eye, before Odoacer could question her further, she jumped. Odoacer ran to the railing in front of her and looked down the giant chute. The mare was dead, no doubt crossed her mind about that. The loud sound of hoof beats on metal caused Odoacer to turn around, she was nervous, the pony before her was Thaddeus, he barely looked tired and he had an angry look in his eyes. "What happened, where did she go?"

"She jumped. Down the chute to her death. She said something before she jumped, she said her name was Hester Shaw." A faint look of surprise crossed the face of Thaddeus for a moment.

"Did you see her? Her face I mean. What did she look like?"

"She had a scar running across her face and she had only one eye." She was about to ask why the badly disfigured mare wanted with Valentine, but she was only able to begin to mouth the beginnings of a word when she saw Valentine's amazing agility for the second time that night. He dropped low and ran at Odoacer, pushing her over the rail. No, that couldn't be, she'd certainly slipped. Valentine wouldn't kill her. She had been careless and fallen. The thought began to cross her mind that she'd just been killed as Manehattan fell away, disappearing as she fell through the pitch dark chute. A moments later the whole world went sideways in a blur and then went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Mortal Ponies

Chapter 3

It was cold, not cold like the Third Class Apprentice Stables, this was damp cold. Odoacer tried to take a deep breath, only to be rewarded with a mouth full of mud. She shot up immediately, coughing and spitting up as much as she could. The strange earthy taste wouldn't leave, even when she was sure there was no more mud.

"Well look who decided to wake up." A familiar voice in a spoke cold, harsh tone. Odoacer turned her mud caked head towards the voice, to be greeted by a sight that made a strange combination of fear, anger, and relief flood her. It was Hester Shaw, the disfigured mare assassin that had tried to kill Valentine.

"Why are you here? I thought you were dead." Odoacer said, surprised herself that she had not been killed herself. Hester gave her a stern look.

"Because you stopped me from killing Valentine, that's why I'm here and unless you jumped down that garbage chute, you're here for the same reason I am."

"If you would have killed Valentine, you'd be dead!"

"And you'd be cozy aboard your city. We'd of both been happy."

"Happy? You said yourself that you'd of died!"

"It wouldn't have mattered to me, so long as I took Valentine with me." Odoacer didn't know how to react to the mare's tone. She made it sound like it was Odoacer's fault that the two were stranded in the Out Country. Without another word, the mare began walking off.

"Where are you going?" Odoacer scrambled after her, not wanting to be left alone.

"I'm going after Manehattan. It took me three years to get onto a town that got eaten by Manehattan." The blind determination Hester had scared Odoacer, it was almost inhuman, like some machine. She followed, careful not to fall into the chasm to either side of their muddy sliver of land. The chasms continued on, Manehattan no doubt at the end of them. Odoacer stayed a meter behind Hester, still afraid of the mare.

The two stopped to rest, knowing that Manehattan gained more ground the longer they waited. They had very little water and drank only small sips.

"Valentine killed my parents." Odoacer's jaw hung open stupidly when Hester spoke. She hadn't said a word since they began their trek.

"I was only a filly. He came into my house to talk to my mother. She used to work with him as an archeologist and he came often to visit. On this night he came and they talked, but not like normal. They started arguing and I went up into the attic to see what was happening. They were talking about something my mother had found called MEDUSA. She was refusing to let him have it so he killed her." She stared at the ground as she said this. She looked sad, possibly about to cry, but she didn't.

"He took his sword and stabbed her. When I cried out he turned to face me, the sword dripping with my mother's blood. She hadn't died and tried to stop him, but he simply stabbed her again. I'd frozen in place and when he got to me I thought I'd die. He took him sword and cut me across my face. I fell down the stairs and I guess he thought I was dead because he left." She got up from the rock she'd been resting on and continued walking onward. Odoacer stayed still for a minute before following. Using her wings to catch up, she hovered behind Hester as they continued on in silence.

The two walked for hours, Manehattan always staying just beyond the horizon. Small refuse piles had begun to appear, and the one not a kilometer ahead was accompanied by a small town. Very small, it looked like someone had taken a house and stuck wheels and an engine on it. No doubt that was the basic design.

The couple approached a man who was digging through the pile, looking for useful bits of trash. Disgusting. He introduced himself as the mayor of the town, and Hester was able to convince him to allow us to come along with him.

"Why are you digging through Manehattan's trash?" Odoacer asked dumbly, having lived her whole life aboard the city.

"I was just asking myself the same question to be honest. Used to be you could find food, fuel, and even useful parts in these piles. Guess the cities are using more and tossing less with prey so scarce." He explained. They climbed aboard the Traction House, as Odoacer referred to it in her thoughts. The man was talking all the way, but Odoacer was barely listening.

"...trading cluster not a day from here. A couple of small towns gather to trade our finds. Used to be bigger, but a lot of smaller towns won't come to a gathering like this with the cities turning on us like they are. Don't blame 'em personally, but it's hard to get by without help." Was all Odoacer managed to catch. They were led into a room, where an older mare was tending to a young filly.

"Get these two something to eat, they've been walking all day and look starving." She left the room with nothing more than a nod.

"Sit, you must be tired after all that walking." Odoacer did, and Hester followed suit. The mare returned with two bowls of blueish sludge. They both eyed it curiously.

"It's algae. We grow it in vats below. Not the tastiest, but it fills you up and keeps you going." She glanced at Hester, only to see that she was already eating the algae. Odoacer began eating some herself, it had the consistency of oatmeal and a taste that was hard to pin down. She decided that it tasted like blue and ate greedily. The mare refilled their bowls and the two continued, but Odoacer began to feel drowsy. She turned to Hester and saw her passed out, her head flat against the table.

"We need to use more next time. This took too long." She heard somepony say. She looked at the two earth ponies in front of her, they seemed to be waiting for her to fall asleep, or that's how it looked through her half-closed eyes.

Odoacer awoke in a small room, the only thing in the room other than Hester and herself was a door and some pipes running along the ceiling.

"We've been played." Hester had an annoyed expression on her face, "They're taking us to their little trading cluster to sell us." Odoacer wanted to protest, but only managed to open her mouth before a loud click came from the door.

The earth pony who stood on the other side of the door held a gas pistol in his maw.

"No hard feelings. Life's hard out here." He looked at Odoacer, "I'll get a lot for you. And I'll sell your friend with you. Not too many people looking for one-eyed earth ponies." He spoke surprisingly well for somepony with a gun in his mouth. He whispered something to a large stallion that stood outside with him. She gave Hester a worried glance, but the mare seemed too out of it to care. It was almost like she'd given up, which was nothing like how she'd sounded in the Out Country.

As soon as she was sure there was nopony within earshot, Odoacer began looking for a way out. She checked for loose boards along the floor before turning to the pipes above. They were sturdy and the sound of liquid moving through them made her decide that they were a lost cause. Hester watched hopelessly, looking sick or sad or possibly both.

Odoacer had a dozen splinters in her hooves, and was no closer to getting out than she'd been a few hours ago when she'd woken up. She walked to the outside wall and look out of a knot hole. All she could see was the light fading over the muddy plains that seemed to stretch on forever. Hester guessed they must be nearing the trading cluster. In anger, Odoacer began bucking at the board, not caring that she was just wasting energy.

She nearly fell over when she hurt a cracking noise. She was amazed to find that she'd broken the board, and not a minute too soon. In the darkening twilight the lights of other towns were becoming visible, encouraging her to keep working. She'd have to break two boards to escape with her wings. The town slowed as it entered a bowl shaped valley filled with small towns, most of them having just arrived.

With some work the board next to the first one began to loosen, and cracks were forming in the wood. With a final buck the board broke away, flying over the railing of the catwalk outside. As she did this the town slowed to a stop, and she could see them extending a long gangplank across the gap between it and the neighboring town. It was now dark enough that she could fly off without anypony seeing her, but she couldn't. She turned to Hester who sat in the far corner of the room and walked over to her.

"C'mon, Hester, we have to go." The earth pony looked surprised, but nodded in agreement. She got to her feet and shakily began walking with Odoacer to the exit she'd made for them. With any luck the trading wouldn't begin for a good amount of time and the two could get away before they came to them. The slipped through the hole, Hester fitting with space to spare, Odoacer having to squeeze to make it through.

They quietly trotted along the catwalk and up the stairs to the deck of the town. There didn't seem to be anypony so they got across the gangplank without any trouble. Unfortunately, that was where Odoacer's plan ended. She hadn't thought of how to get away from the trading cluster, but the gods were on their side it seemed. The next town over had a couple of airships docked on it's upper deck.

The couple crossed the town deck and another gangplank to the adjoining town. The airships were docked next a small bar that appeared to be made out of an old airship gondola. A shot rang out behind them, not aimed at them, but it was clearly from the town they'd escaped from. They rushed into the bar, hoping they could get away before they got to the town they were on. The bar was almost empty. There were only two people beside the bartender. Odoacer walked up to the bar and called over the pony standing behind it.

"I'm looking for passage on an airship. Are there any pilots I could hire to fly me where I'm going?" The pony behind the bar eyed her curiously but didn't act on any suspicions.

"Depends where you want to go."

"We need to get to Manehattan."

"You'd need a pilot with a Manehattan trading license." A sweet and calming voice said from down the bar. It was a Pegasus mare in a long red overcoat with goggles hanging around her neck. When she smiled her teeth looked almost blood red.

"Sorry, my name is Anna Fang. Yours?"

"Odoacer, Odoacer Noteworthy. Do you have one? A Manehattan trading license, I mean." Odoacer's query was answered by short shake of the mare's head.

"But I can take you to Cloudhaven. I'm sure you'll find a Manehattan merchant there." Odoacer felt her heart skip a beat. Everypony in the Equestrian Hunting Grounds knew about Cloudhaven. It was a single deck of a traction city suspended in air by a vast number of gasbags. It had stopped over Manehattan on a few occasions and tourists would ride up on balloon taxis. Being a Third Class Apprentice Odoacer had never been able to go up herself. Now she had a chance.

Her hopes were dashed a moment later as men barged through the bar door.

"There they are!" It was the stallion who'd stood outside their makeshift cell the last time they'd bothered to check on them. Odoacer took a few steps back, standing in front of Hester, who was tiredly sitting on a bar stool. Surprisingly the mare who had introduced herself as Anna Fang stood up and blocked the stallion.

"Out of my way, those two are mine."

"Those two are my passengers. We were just about to discuss payment when you interrupted."

"Those two ponies there are slaves; they escaped from our town before we could sell 'em." The stallion took a step forward, expecting the mare to step aside now that they situation was made clear, but she stood still. The earth pony reached back and produced a small sword, which he held awkwardly in his mouth. He charged. A shot rang out, followed by the clang of metal on metal as the sword fell to the floor. The stallion faltered for a second before falling to the ground. Somehow the pilot had produced a gas pistol without anypony noticing and gotten a shot off. Unfortunately, the shot would not go unnoticed.

"Hurry, his friends will be here soon." The Pegasus spoke quickly. Odoacer grabbed Hester and pulled her along as they raced out of the bar behind the pilot. The rushed onto the docking platform and were nearly to the ship before a shot rang out. It came from a pistol held tightly in the maw of the earth pony who'd imprisoned Odoacer and Hester. Anna returned with her pistol and felled the pony to his right, making him jump and drop his pistol.

The group used this momentary distraction to get aboard Anna Fang's airship. It had a gondola that looked like it'd been thrown together from parts of a dozen airships, two large engine pods (one on either side) and a large red gasbag with what Odoacer assumed was the name of the ship scrawled in some foreign language.

They rushed inside and Anna closed the gondola's door firmly behind them. She then ran to the front where a mess of gauges, levers and a dozen instruments that Odoacer didn't recognize. She began working at the levers and switched before her and the engine pods roared to life.

"...Airship Jenny Haniver, you are not cleared to leave. We have been informed that you are aiding the escape of two slaves fro-" Anna turned off the radio and threw a switch, releasing the magnetic docking clamps with an audible thud. With the airship free of the town, it began to rise quickly. Odoacer looked out a side window at the trading cluster. A circle of brightly lit towns that was quickly getting smaller. Soon it was no larger than the model of Manehattan Odoacer has examined so many times before. She'd always wanted to escape Manehattan and go on an adventure, but this was far from what she'd wanted.

"We got away." Odoacer whispered. She was tempted to asked Anna why she'd rescued them, but was stopped by a thud from the back of the cabin. She turned to see Hester Shaw unconscious on the floor.


End file.
